The trip back to Konoha was actually a lot quicker than the trip to the city. Naruto was so excited about getting to use his new weapons that he unconsciously sped everyone up so that they could get home sooner. At first Kakashi was going to tell him to slow down for the sake of their charges, but they seemed just as eager to return so he said nothing. If they got tired, he would say something, but right now they didn't look like they were tired at all. In fact, they looked like some rather fit men for wanting ninja to protect them along a relatively safe road, but Kakashi wouldn't call attention to it. They were hired to do a job and they would do it.
"I can't wait to get back to the village and practice with my new weapons," Naruto said happily as he pulled them out once again to examine.
"It'll be too late to practice them today," Kakashi pointed out.
"But Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined.
"The Kyuubi festival will start soon after we get back," Kakashi said, "and we aren't allowed to practice during the Kyuubi festival."
"Okay," Naruto pouted to show his disappointment, but both Kakashi and Sasuke could tell that there was something more to it than that though only Kakashi actually knew what it was.
"We can train first thing tomorrow," Kakashi said to appease him, "but right now I think that we all want to rest when we get back."
"Will you come to the Kyuubi festival with me?" Sakura asked Naruto as she grabbed his arm and pushed her almost nonexistent breasts closer to him in order to entice him. "We can celebrate your birthday together there."
"I'd really rather not," Naruto said.
"But why?" Sakura whined. "It'll be fun."
"He said no Sakura," Sasuke growled. What he really wanted to say was 'get your hands off of Naruto,' but he was pretty sure that probably wouldn't go over well in this situation.
Naruto looked up at Sasuke in shock before turning back to Sakura. "I'd really rather not go today," he said, "but maybe next time."
Sakura pouted and batted her eyelashes in one last attempt to convince Naruto to go with her, but Sasuke was already there and pulling Naruto away from the woman. "Come on Dobe," Sasuke said a little more forcefully than he probably should have, but he was just so angry with Sakura.
"Where are we going?" Naruto asked. He was so used to that tone on Sasuke's voice after he talked to Sakura that it didn't bother him at all, but Sasuke's grip was a little painful against his scars.
"We're going to get something to eat," Sasuke responded once he thought he was far enough away from Sakura that she wouldn't be able to overhear him and invite herself to go with them.
"I'd really rather not," Naruto said as he tugged on the wrist that Sasuke was holding onto in order to stop them both. The movement made him flinch and Sasuke immediately let go when he saw it.
"My house dobe," Sasuke said as he shoved his hands in his pocket. "Come on."
"Your house?" Naruto grinned. Sasuke had never invited him to his house before.
"Yea," Sasuke nodded, "and I got you a present that just so happens to be there too. I'll give it to you when we get there."
"Okay!" Naruto said excitedly as he bounced alongside Sasuke. This was turning out to be the best birthday Naruto thought that he would ever have. Not that it was really difficult to make it up to that status, but Naruto was happy nonetheless.
"We're here," Sasuke said after they had been walking for some time. Naruto had never even seen Sasuke's house before this day. Even the times that he had passed by the Uchiha mansion when he was young, he forced himself not to look at it so that he wouldn't have to see all the happy children playing when he couldn't be happy himself. And then he wouldn't look at it because he knew that it would look so lonely without anyone there to fill it. The complex was huge to Naruto's standards. He had never seen a house so big and Sasuke lived it in all on his own. It must be so lonely.
Naruto followed Sasuke into the complex until they found the house in the very center of it and Sasuke opened the door to allow Naruto to slip past him only to close it again when he was also inside. Even the house was bigger than Naruto had ever really seen. Granted, he had never been in any house other than the tiny apartment he owned and Iruka's slightly larger than his apartment. Naruto sneezed almost immediately when he went into the living room. It was so dusty all over the place. It was obvious that Sasuke didn't really spend a lot of time in this house. It wasn't a home to him. It was just a place to stay and Naruto couldn't decide if he was jealous or not.
"I'm sorry about all the dust," Sasuke said when he noticed the reason that Naruto was sneezing. "I don't really spend any time in that room."
"It's alright," Naruto smiled and twirled around in the living room, kicking up more dust as he went, just to try to make things a bit happier. "This place is so much bigger than I've ever been in. It must be a mansion."
"Not really," Sasuke smiled when Naruto was forced to stop because of another sneezing fit. "Mansions are a lot bigger than this."
"Really?" Naruto's eyes widened. "There are places bigger than this?"
Sasuke nodded and laughed at Naruto's childish reaction. He didn't think that Naruto would be so fascinated by his home, but, if he had, he probably would have brought Naruto there a long time ago.
"Come on," Sasuke said when Naruto sneezed once again. "My room isn't as dusty as the rest of the place."
"Okay," Naruto nodded excitedly. He had always been secretly curious about what Sasuke's room looked like. It turns out, he was pretty much right. The whole place was filled with books and scrolls both for training and otherwise. There was a weapons rack on one side where Sasuke kept his whole assortment of weapons when he wasn't using them and a weapons' sharpener sat just off to the side from it. The bed, though, was what really caught Naruto's eye. It was huge. He had never seen a bed that looked so big and comfortable before. Without even thinking, Naruto threw himself at the bed and found himself sinking into it with a contented sigh. It was so soft. He felt like he could just sleep there for the rest of his life.
Sasuke had to hold back a chuckle when he saw Naruto jump into his bed and then immediately curl up into a ball like he was just going to fall asleep right then and there, but, as much as Sasuke would love to have Naruto sleep in his bed, there was something else that he needed to take care of before he lost his nerve.
"I got you a birthday present," Sasuke reminded Naruto and Naruto was almost immediately out of the bed looking at him with just barely concealed excited expectation. "Here," Sasuke handed a scroll over to Naruto who took it eagerly.
"What is it?" he asked as he looked it over carefully.
"It's a very rare summoning jutsu," Sasuke replied.
Naruto's eyes widened and he tried to hand the scroll back to Sasuke. "I can't take something like this. You should take it for your own."
But Sasuke shook his head. "I'm giving it to you." Sasuke pushed the scroll back over to Naruto and encouraged him to open it.
The design in the scroll didn't look very hard at first look, but upon further inspection there were little intricate marks that, if they were not drawn perfectly, would ruin the entire thing. It was obviously something that would be very hard to make and would probably be very expensive. Naruto thought about trying to return it once more, but one look at Sasuke and he knew that he would not be taking it back no matter how many times Naruto tried.
"What do I do?" Naruto asked.
"The man that I bought it from said that you had to put some of your blood and chakra onto the seal in order to call forward whatever creature would be best for you."
Naruto nodded and gathered up a little bit of chakra in his thumb before biting down on it hard enough that the chakra and blood leaked onto the paper. The bite mark only lasted a few seconds before it had completely disappeared, but there was enough of an offering as the seal started to glow. It only glowed for a moment before the whole scrolled disappeared in a cloud of smoke and a fox jumped to the ground. It took a moment to size Sasuke up, determining that he was in no way a threat before walking over to Naruto and sitting itself right on top of his feet and rubbing itself against him.
"Is he mine?" Naruto's eyes widened as he crouched down to pet the creature. It didn't snap at him like a wild fox would, but instead pushed its head up into his hand to show him that it liked the contact.
Sasuke nodded. He didn't know exactly what animal would be summoned since the summoning was different for everyone, but he had to admit that the cute little fox did fit Naruto very well.
"What's his name?" Naruto asked.
"You have to name him," Sasuke responded.
"What about…" Naruto thought for a moment as the fox crawled on top of his knees only to keep going higher until it was hanging off one of his shoulders. "What about Kyuusuke?" The fox yipped in agreement and rubbed its furry head against Naruto's, which made him smile. "How do I take care of him? What do I feed him?"
"He's made from your chakra," Sasuke explained as he reached forward to allow the fox to sniff his hand. "He doesn't eat food. As long as you have chakra left, he will survive." The fox yipped once more and pressed his head into Sasuke's hand and Sasuke had to hold back a sigh of relief because that meant that Naruto trusted him and he had the feeling that Naruto didn't trust very many people.
So one of my reviewers suggested that I have Sasuke buy Naruto a fox for his birthday and i just loved the idea so I used it. Thanks for the suggestions.
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well.